Writing a Report on Ruby on Rails - Could anyone provide any insight

Rails
1

We have been ask about how Ruby on Rails could be intergrated into a 3-
tier architecure for produce a single intergrated source of student
data and information. It would included both adminstrative and public
records etc.
Any information on how Ruby on Rails could be used in this sense
sucesfully would be of great use, as well as information on how it
could be intergrated with an Oracl Database.

Thanks.

2

On 14 October 2010 12:55, Josh N. [email protected] wrote:

We have been ask…
Any information on how Ruby on Rails could be used in this sense
sucesfully would be of great use, as well as information on how it
could be intergrated with an Oracl Database.

Rather than us doing your homework for you, maybe you could fill us in
on some of the background research you’ve done into Rails and it’s
configuration with Oracle? If there are any specific questions you
have about how things work, then I’m sure you’ll get lots of responses

  • but since you’re not going to give whatever qualification it is that
    you’re attempting to achieve to whoever answers you, I don’t see why
    you should be passing on your assignment here without demonstrating
    any effort of your own.

As a hint; there is a popular internet search engine you could enter a
query for “Ruby R. Oracle Adapter” and get lots of relevant
information.

3

Hi Josh,

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 6:55 AM, Josh N. [email protected]
wrote:

We have been ask about how Ruby on Rails could be intergrated into a 3-
tier architecure for produce a single intergrated source of student
data and information. It would included both adminstrative and public
records etc.

Who is ‘we’? If you’re, for example, a team within a university IT
function that’s considering Rails you’ll find much better response
here that if you’re an IT consultancy.

Any information on how Ruby on Rails could be used in this sense
sucesfully would be of great use, as well as information on how it
could be intergrated with an Oracl Database.

Rails is very good at database-backed, front-end driven web
applications. So if by ‘single integrated source’ you mean a single
view into multiple databases, then Rails is well suited for your
purpose. If on the other hand, your talking about using Rails to
manage a federated system, probably not so much.

Say more about who you and and what you’re trying to accomplish.

Best regards,
Bill

4

On 14 October 2010 17:24, Josh N. [email protected] wrote:

I and the rest of my group are students at the university collage
london.
We have had little or no experience in the world of information
systems.
It just happens to be an unfortunate part of our course that we have
to complete this module.

If I could just put a little background into the replies you received
there are a lot of requests for help to the group from students who
are obviously looking for replies that they can use in assignments
without having to do the research themselves. I think it was assumed
that you fell into that category, possibly erroneously. You will I
am sure get a much more helpful response if you at least do some
research of your own first and then ask here for more information on
specific areas that are not clear to you.

However I must say that to ask students with little or no experience
in the world of IS the question ‘how Ruby on Rails could be
intergrated into a 3-tier architecure for produce a single intergrated
source of student data and information. It would included both
adminstrative and public records etc.’ seems a little odd.

…
To Bill - Thanks for the information and by we i only mean a group of
students with little or no knowledge in this field, it’s just part of
our course that we need to get out of the way and like i said earlier
i just wanted a bit of help on it so i have a better understanding
before writing a report.

I am afraid this is not going to help your cause either. Those here
are less likely to get interested in a project that is ‘just part of
our course that we need to get out of the way’. If you are yourself
not really interested in the problem then it is unlikely you will get
much enthusiasm here.

Colin

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On Oct 14, 2010, at 9:48 AM, Colin L. wrote:

adminstrative and public records etc.’ seems a little odd.
It is odd, with the possible exception that perhaps the point of the
project is for the students to learn how to analyze a problem they know
nothing about and provide a useful answer. People do this all the time
in real life. Knowing how to acquire enough knowledge about the problem
in order to provide some useful information is a valuable skill.

I won’t answer your question, but given what you’ve said so far I would
research the following:

  • Oracle and how well/poorly it interacts with Ruby/Rails.

  • Issues around using Rails with “legacy databases”. To kick start this
    one, pay particular attention to articles/info about tables that do not
    have numeric primary keys.

  • The pros/cons of using Rails over Django/PHP/Perl/Java/ColdFusion/ASP.
    Not from a technical perspective (although that might be useful too) but
    from a “what resources do you have available now and in the future”
    perspective.

I would think that with appropriate googling of the net and this mailing
list in particular you should find lots of information that would allow
you to give a decent pro/con of using Rails for this module.

-philip

6

Hi Colin
Okay, I do a business related course however it includes modules in
IS, now I and the rest of my group with vouch on how appalling our
lecturer is. This is the second lecture we have ever had, in which the
first only contained a brief intro to 3-tier architecture. We now have
this course work on a program we don’t understand due to the fact we
arnt IS or coding literate! We have to write this report and whilst I
don’t want it to be construed as me asking people to write my report
for me. We just have no idea where to begin, we don’t understand how
any system let alone RoR would fit into producing a system. We have
this module compressed into our corse for some unknown reason.

To be honest none us really know what we are doing we have just been
given a brief that I’ve spoken of in the best detail I can above. We
just don’t know where to begin an would like some help, even if it’s
just a link or a push in the right direction. I tried google in
regards to finding how it might be used but I found that the technical
level was above that which we had read up on. Now normally I would not
be bothered but due to the rest of our corse the dead lines are tight
on this and I / we only wanted a bit of help.

I will happily post our brief if it helps. We just need help due to
the vagueness of the report and the vagueness of the lectures. Sorry
for any inconvenience.
Regards Josh

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PHILIP
Thanks thats why I was really looking for, I’ll research thay as come
back with anymore questions in regards to those points, any further
info would still be great.
Best regards Josh

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I and the rest of my group are students at the university collage
london.
We have had little or no experience in the world of information
systems.
It just happens to be an unfortunate part of our course that we have
to complete this module.
To Michael - before spouting off and being rather small minded, i
wasn’t asking you to do the work for me, merely to provide a little
insight into what we are doing as we have no experience.
The current UCL system is based on an Oracl
Database, however we have no information into how this works apart
from the simple basics (as they wont give us any help on it).
All we are merely doing is writing a report on how
why RoR might be a useful way of rebuilding the system. Apart from
that we have no other information.
I was only hoping that as users of the program you
might be able to provide some insight into it, i wasn’t banking on A)
you writing it for me, or B) engaging in conversation with people
who have inferiority complexes.

To Bill - Thanks for the information and by we i only mean a group of
students with little or no knowledge in this field, it’s just part of
our course that we need to get out of the way and like i said earlier
i just wanted a bit of help on it so i have a better understanding
before writing a report.
Our lecturer is not very good and leaves us in the dark about
everything!
I don’t have to use the program at any point i just have to suggest
why it would be useful for a system like the one i’ve suggested.
So in theory we aren’t trying to accomplish anything apart from just
make suggestions as to why this might be better then using oracl or
any other system / framework.
Thanks for the help .

9

On 14 October 2010 17:24, Josh N. [email protected] wrote:

I and the rest of my group are students at the university collage
london.

Is that like a collection of newspaper cuttings about universities
pasted onto a canvas? :wink:

To Michael - before spouting off and being rather small minded, i
wasn’t asking you to do the work for me, merely to provide a little
insight into what we are doing as we have no experience.

You’re welcome.

     I was only hoping that as users of the program you

might be able to provide some insight into it

That’s certainly possible - all you need do is ask a question, and
you’ll get answers. Saying “Any information on how Ruby on Rails could
be used … would be of great use” is far too open-ended. Close it
down for us; throw us a bone. All I asked was for you to do the
groundwork yourself. You don’t see me posting on plumbing forums
saying “Any information on how to fix my shower would be useful”
without giving any information about how my shower is broken. If you
think my previous post was in any way insulting; I’m sorry for your
misunderstanding. You need to take a breath and read it again.

i wasn’t banking on engaging in conversation with people
who have inferiority complexes.

It’s obviously a psychology course that you’re doing; given your
amazing perception about my personality. [1]

I’m sure you’ll get lots of help from other people here… or, by
glancing at their posts, I can see that mostly everyone is telling
you, in one way or another, to Google it for yourself, and ask more
specific questions when you’ve got a handle on the generalities.

But I’m sure neither of our lives will be worse off for the fact we
shall not interact again.

Regards,

[1] Judging by your email address, I think that casting aspersions
about inferiority complexes is a bit “pot/kettle” :wink: